


Okami to Ryu

by SuperSecretAgentQrow



Category: RWBY
Genre: F/M, Magic and monsters, Many Secondary Characters, Post-Medieval Oriental, Rewrite, Warlords and Kingdoms, inspired by Inuyasha
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-20
Updated: 2018-09-01
Packaged: 2019-06-13 10:09:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15362178
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SuperSecretAgentQrow/pseuds/SuperSecretAgentQrow
Summary: A team of ragtag fighters is forced to work together to defeat powerful warlords, rampaging spirits, and their personal demons as the fate of Anima hangs in the balance.





	1. Meet Yang and Blake, Your Everyday Bounty Hunters!

**Author's Note:**

> This is a rewrite of a story that I posted a few months ago. The core idea is about the same but I thought I could do better with the opening chapters. Enjoy!  
> Also, thanks Shipperoftrashyships and SassyUnicorn7 for kickin my ass to get this posted hah.

A lone wolf’s howl pierced the night sky, as a pillar of flame rose to meet the shattered moon.

The once peaceful fishing town was a scene of devastation. Straw-roofed buildings crumbled like snapped twigs, and clashes of steel on steel rang loudly before the death cries of the villagers. Charred corpses were staked on pikes, men, women, children...

It was too much. The stench of death and decay forced her to her knees, hunched over on the bloodied soil and retching violently. Attacking raiders, assassins, soldiers was one thing, but the defenseless? It was slaughter for the sake of slaughter. She would have no part of it.

Still on all fours she inched forward, heedless of the mud caking her gauntlets, crawling through the smoke that hid everything in shadows. To her right a bandit broadsword cut down a hapless woman, the spray of blood flying high in the air. To her left a militia squadron was torn to pieces by a pair of circular blades, throats ripped apart too fast to scream. In front of her...

A burst of black energy sharp as a knife flew by, shearing a golden lock of hair and pushing her onto her back. From the smoke walked in a black-haired figure of malice, dressed in silken robes the color of blood, wielding a sword the smell of death, wearing a mask the shape of hell.

“Going somewhere, Yang?”

 _No. No no no_ \- she tried to escape, only taking two steps backwards before a house collapsed, cutting her off with a wall of fire. Two more bolts of darkness shot out, tearing the burning buildings down around her and trapping her in a ring of destruction.

“I was so pleased when you told me you were ready to step out from my shadow - to accept the power inside you, claim the title you were born for. Now I see I was simply blind. Blind to the truth that you will never have what it takes to survive in this world.”

Spitting out ash, the golden woman rose shakily, knowing in the back of her mind this confrontation was inevitable. “Mother...”

“But don’t worry, weak and wounded child,” the pale-skinned warrior said as she took off the mask, revealing purple markings etched into her skin and eyes as colorless as the void.

“Now with everything I’ve ever needed in reach, I can see _everything_ so clearly.”

Without thinking Yang flicked her arms, opening the hidden barrels inside her gauntlets, and with a battle roar she opened fire on the killer. The earth shook violently as the shells exploded, sending rubble into the sky and flattening the nearby forest. Breathing heavily, Yang stared down the cloud of smoke she’d created.

From the massive crater two tendrils of purple miasma lashed out, landing directly on her weapons before Yang could even react and anchoring her to the ground. Struggling to no avail, she could only watch as her worst nightmare strolled out of the blast zone, coated in a shield of pulsating energy and not a scratch to bear.

“Feisty as ever, but a cornered animal is nothing if not predictable,” she taunted. “I’m not even angry at you, my only daughter. Simply disappointed. You had so much potential to help our cause, to join me and create a world we could be proud of!”

By now she was in her daughter’s face, close enough for Yang to see the almost-living tattoos cut deeper and deeper into the woman’s skin. “You were going to become so much more, more than I could ever be, and you threw it away? For what?!”

Yang summoned the last of her strength and spat right in her soulless black eye. “Go to hell, Raven.”

That clearly didn’t have the intended effect, as Raven just sneered and stepped away. “And here I thought you would have more poignant last words. But if that’s what you wish...”

With a slash of her blood-red sword a flame dove into the ground, morphing into a pack of shuffling demons that lumbered towards the trapped girl. “I’ll have no qualms taking you with me.”

Yang screamed as the devils bit into her, cutting scars that burned hotter than a flaming sun. She shuddered violently as the summons wrapped around her, chanting as they dragged her into the inferno.

_“Yang...”_

__

__

_“Yang...”_

“Yang!”

She bolted upright and immediately slammed her head into the corgi sitting on her lap, crashing back into her pillow from the sheer shock of the awakening. Instead of pillars of smoke and the shattered moon, when she looked up all she saw was wooden ceiling beams and peeling green paint. And from the corner of her eye, black hair and cat ears on top of an unamused face.

“You’re awake. Thirty minutes late,” the head said.

Yang closed her eyes and reopened them. Alabaster skin. Golden eyes. Uncrazy non-mass murderer. _Not her_.

“Uhh. Heyy Blake. Just catching, you know, my beauty sleep. Sorry if I worried ya.”

Her partner narrowed her eyes for a moment, but if there was anything she didn’t want to ask about it was the nightmares, so she shrugged and walked off to finish packing her gear. “Thanks to your laziness, we’re already behind schedule. Wait any longer and he’ll just bail on us.”

“Relax, okay? For what we promised him, that crook will stay put night and day.” With a sigh Yang shooed her dog and opened the drawer, rubbing the sleep from her eyes and picking an outfit for today’s job. “I’m surprised you didn’t leave the inn hours ago to set up your gadgets.”

“Took care of it before dawn,” her faunus friend replied as she shrugged on a burlap sack. “You sure you’ve thought this through? This place is on the fringe of Estervale, somewhere even the cops try to avoid. We’ll be walking into the lion’s den with nothing but instinct and luck to keep us alive.”

“Counting on it,” Yang said, slipping on a trench coat to match her burgundy combat boots and black slacks. “Let’s just see how your escape plan holds up.”

Her dog yipped twice, tongue hanging from his mouth expectantly. “That’s right, Zwei-Zwei,” his owner cooed back. “You’ll definitely be tagging along for this one.”

Blake narrowed her eyes immediately. “That creature is _not _what I was bringing the bag for.”__

____

__

Twenty minutes and one bagful of canine later, the duo reached the looming double doors of Junior’s Evening and Exclusives Club, in the heart of the red-light district and looking about as empty as the rest of the brothels during a weekday afternoon. **Great**. Was a shame no criminal was willing to meet up portside or by some other public venue where they couldn’t get stabbed at any moment. With a nod to her partner Yang stepped up and banged twice with the ivory handles.

Seconds later a peephole slid open and red-tinted glasses peered out at them. “This fine tax-paying establishment is closed during th’day. You’ll have to take yer business elsewhere...ma’am?”

Yang held up a hand, smiling coolly. “Oh no, you can call me sir. And we’ve got an appointment at Junior’s today. Business with the so-called _Prince of Gangsters_.”

The eyes disappeared for a beat, muffled conversation behind the walls before the latch unlocked to open the doors wide. “Make yourselves welcome, esteemed guests,” the doorman said with a bow.

Blake discreetly set the bag down just outside the building as they walked in, entrance shutting ominously behind them as they were led past the vacant bedding rooms into the heart of the place. While a perfectly upstanding whorehouse in the evening, Junior’s Club spent the day as the number one retreat for lowlifes and seedy criminals in Estervale, a sort of information hub for whatever smuggling or robbery schemes were going on. The kind of place city police salivated over, wishing they could just sneak an officer in.

Or a bounty hunter. No wonder Blake was worried about getting skewered if - _when_ \- things went south. Whether or not they survived this, they certainly would never be welcome here again. That would make future contracts a lot more difficult, but that was a price they were willing to pay for the sheer value of this target.

The seediest, lowliest of criminals this side of the continent, the bowler-hatted man sitting in the middle of the hall cross-legged, cane leaning against his chair and surrounded by an entourage of thugs as he puffed away on an expensive cigar.

Roman Torchwick, ace of all thieves.

When they approached the dimly-lit table he signaled back his posse, leaning forward and blowing a ring of smoke at Blake. “Being late for work usually qualifies as making a bad impression. Any longer and I would blame you for my early death from smoke inhalation.”

 _Wouldn’t that make everyone’s lives easier_. “Apologies,” Blake said. “We had some complications keeping the information secret, but that’s been taken care of. If you’ll allow us we can begin the transaction now.”

“Beautiful and straight to the point. I appreciate that in a lady. Very well,” he snapped his fingers and a bag of coins dropped onto the table, “that’s half the payment as agreed. If you could hand over that _dreadful_ mayor’s safe combination we can finish up and consider this a done deal.”

Yang lifted the bag and peeked inside. Only silver coinage? It was definitely less than he’d promised. Then again, none of that would matter in thirty seconds, so she attached the pouch to her hip, then fished the envelope from her breast pocket and chucked it at the ginger gangster.

He caught it one-handed, humming loudly as he flicked open a knife to shear the letter open. The two guests tensed where they were standing, one counting the crooks around them and the other keeping track of his tattooed eye.

Spitting out the cigar butt he fished out the paper with a gloved hand, slowly unfolding the cartoon drawing of a man in a bowler hat, long orange hair obscuring one eye and a tattoo over the other, puffing on a huge pipe above the word BOUNTY and the number 30,000.

Roman did a double take. “Wh-what the fuck?! A wanted poster? Do you wanna die before nightfall, chick?”

Yang shrugged. “Eh, thought you’d find it at least a little funnier.”

Her fist slammed down on the wooden table, shattering it as Blake tossed a smoke bomb to disorient his men. Before Torchwick could even reach for his cane Yang dashed over, giving him two hooks and an uppercut before hauling the unconscious target over her shoulder.

“Got him! Let’s go!” she shouted above the chaos. Blake wasted no time kicking down the guy blocking the stairs, both of the girls sprinting up them as a small army of criminals wielding all kinds of blades gave chase.

“Remember the way out?” Yang asked, shifting the limp body to her other shoulder.

“Easy,” her partner answered as she tossed caltraps behind them. “Just follow the path with more criminals in our way. Like right here.”

Two dudes brandishing halberds stepped into the hallway, if not to kill them just to delay long enough for the horde to catch up. The long bladed staves were a pain to fight in this narrow corridor, so Yang came up with an alternative.

“Catch!” she chirped as she threw Roman between them, both scrambling to stop him from faceplanting into the floor and dropping their steel weapons. They realized their mistake a second later, as Yang introduced the one on the right’s face to her gauntlet and Blake slid under the second, kicking into his groin hard enough to send him airborne.

Yang grabbed the bounty’s gloved wrist as they sped past the moaning pair, charging through hall after hall until they found the giant doors out of this hell. Only thing between them and freedom was ten armed guards, three spears three swords and four crossbows aimed squarely at them.

No time to waste dealing with these guys. Yang took a deep breath and hollered at the top of her lungs.

“ZWEI! SNACK TIME!”

Not two seconds later the giant doors exploded as a flaming devil dog three times her size rushed in, knocking all ten crooks down almost comically as it howled ferociously (it was probably meant as a happy bark, where were the treats?). “Atta boy.”

Yang threw the still-out Roman over Zwei’s back before jumping on and hauling Blake up, just as the massive mob rounded the last corner. **Shit**. “Which way did you say to go?”

Blake pointed left. “Tell this disgusting freak of a canine to book it!” she hissed as a silver arrow whizzed over their heads.

Zwei galloped out of Junior’s and down the street Blake directed them to, the fastest of Roman’s men still hot on their tail. Townspeople screamed as a massive hellhound barrelled down the road, followed by armed guards fit for a small war.

“Left here!” Blake said again, forcing them down a narrow alleyway as a dozen crooked soldiers copied them. When they passed a large array of disks discreetly set up the night before, Blake fished from her pocket a vial of oil and threw it against the wall, coating the disks in the liquid.

Just before the thugs could run past the trap Blake’s perfectly-timed trigger set it off, spewing a thick layer of webbing across the alley, catching one fast felon by the waist and blocking the rest from following their captured leader. Yang watched over her shoulder as they tried cutting through the mesh, only getting their blades caught in the waxy substance as the the giant dog turned a corner out of sight.

“Woohoo! You were right Blakey, all we needed was luck and instinct. And maybe a tangleweave trap or two. Where’d you even get that?”

She could tell Blake was grinning by her change in tone. “Call it a trade secret. Let’s just say in a city like Estervale someone’s always selling something.”

“Sounds exciting. In fact, why don’t you bring me next time? With the coin we’ll get for this haul we could buy two of everything you and I could want!” Her hound barked as it slowed to a trot. “Yes, Zubby-Wubby, we’ll get you something nice too, I promise~”

“Ugh,” Blake moaned, “quit babying the dog from hell and get us to the police station.”

“Hush, you. Otherwise you're my baby boy’s next chew toy.”

* * *

“Unbelievable! You won’t get away with this! I demand to see my lawyer!”

Roman clearly was not amused with waking up in a steel cell on full display for the main police department, sporting three new bruises on his face. He seemed even more upset by the fact that they’d left his hat at the Club, something that spoke to his tragically sociopathic personality.

“Rest assured, Mr. Torchwick, you will be getting the very best care as we await the worst lawyer in all the Vales to come represent you,” Commissioner Oobleck answered all too cheerily, as was the rest of the police force when they’d brought in the one man who’d eluded them for years. “In the meantime, make yourself comfortable, as I’m sure you’ll be having a _very_ long stay here. If you girls would please follow me,” he said, walking up the stairs to his office.

“Payday,” Yang whispered as they stepped into the large chamber, tables piled high with assorted documents and a blown-up map of the continent hanging on the wall. The commissioner rubbed his eyeglasses before sitting down at the main desk. “Ladies, what you’ve done today is truly remarkable. No one has been able to reach into the heart of Estervale’s underworld and pluck the fiend Torchwick from his lair, let alone survive the ordeal and bring him back to us alive. The city cannot thank you enough for this act of heroism.”

“Ah, you know us so well, Commissioner, only the best of intentions and pure of _hrghh_!” Yang started before getting elbowed in the ribs.

“What my partner is trying to say is that while we appreciate the praise, we didn’t mean to do it for free. There was a sizable bounty on his head.”

“Ah, the reward! Excuse me for being so scatterbrained. There have simply been a number of matters across the city I’ve been meaning to attend to.” Oobleck opened a cabinet and froze. He opened another drawer. A third. Fourth.

“I, um, seem to have misplaced the funds for reward money,” he decided. “You’ll have to excuse me again, I’ve been totally occupied with concerns of city wel-”

Yang had him by the lapels before he could apologize further, throwing his green hair in all directions. “Whaddya mean, _misplaced the money_?! How do you lose thirty thousand lien?!” she shouted.

“Yang, that’s enough.” Blake yanked her off the slightly-rattled commissioner. “While an inconvenience, we don’t mind waiting a few days for the proper payment to come through. Provided an extra thousand or two for our patience.”

Arguing with them was probably not the best idea and Oobleck knew that. “That...could certainly be arranged. Very well, once again, I do apologize for the delay, and if you’d please wait here I have something to give you.”

The police chief dashed out of the room, leaving the two girls confused. “What could he possibly have for us? It’s not like he was expecting us to be here,” Yang wondered.

Blake rolled her eyes. “The real question is, why did you leave that beast on its own downstairs? Don’t you think it a little unwise to leave a baby hellhound alone in a police station?”

Yang waved her off. “Relax, bitty-kitty, he’s only toothy when you’re around. I told him nicely to sit still, don’t beg, and try not to bite off Roman’s head. Not in that order.”

“Found them! Under a pile of almanacs, no less,” the commissioner said as he jumped back into his chair, holding out two slips of paper.

Perplexed, Yang slowly took them from him and passing one to Blake. “Coach tickets?”

“Indeed. I’ve taken the liberty of buying you both a coach to the town of Beacon, a mere two hours west of the city. There’s been a troublesome thief plaguing the town for weeks now, and I thought it fitting I send two of the best hunters I’ve seen in a long time to help.”

“Hold on just a minute! Are you suggesting that not only are we _not_ getting our money, but you’re sending us off on a glorified game of hide-and-seek?” Yang sputtered. “Have you lost your damn mind?”

Oobleck tilted his head to the side, rapping on his skull in staccato. “Hmm, everything seems to be in order in here. Probably going to need another shipment of that Vacuo coffee soon.”

“All due respect, Commissioner,” Blake continued, glaring at her obtuse partner, “how come this isn’t something you can just send your officers to do without having to pay them a bounty hunter’s premium?”

“Believe me I would,” Oobleck sighed. “Miss Belladonna, forgive me for being frank, but you have skills mere humans can only dream of. I didn’t mean it that way,” he quickly added as she defensively touched her cat ears and Yang’s eyes narrowed, “I simply meant you are far more capable of tracking down this individual, not only because of your nonhuman traits but because of the nature of the suspect.”

“You’re telling me you’re putting us on this case because you want a faunus hunting another faunus?” Yang asked.

“If only it were that simple,” Oobleck muttered. “Being the large port city it is, Estervale as a whole doesn’t contend with nonhuman or mystic matters as efficiently as smaller isolated towns would. The mayor has refused to allocate any resources towards metaphysicals training, leaving the force severely unprepared when something of this nature comes up.”

“Something like what?” Yang pressed him.

The commissioner laced his hands together as his glasses shone against the sunlight. “There have been numerous sightings of this individual at night, all of which describe silvery fur, clawed talons for hands, eyes shining red like blood, the strength to jump three stories in the air, and report sheer terror washing over them like a wave. The people of Beacon have given him a name...” Oobleck said solemnly.

“Demon Wolf.”


	2. ON HIATUS

Hey everyone, sorry that I haven't come through with anything in a while! This is honestly a little late aheheh...

I wanted to make this announcement earlier, but I've been forced to go on hiatus for most of this semester. Between my job, family, and third-year engineering classes I've had to evaluate how effectively I use my time. In short, to stay afloat I need to cut everything fun from my life for the next few months - from video games to time with bae to writing...writing that I've grown to love in the short time I've been a part of this community. 

What'll hurt just as much is being unable to read the fantastic things everyone else will be posting in my time away, but at the same time I look forward to spending my entire winter break swimming in fanfics and having fun with people I love - both in my personal life, and over the many fandom discords I've been welcomed into. Rest assured that I'll keep writing chapter drafts in my time off from the site, so _hopefully_ (fingers crossed) you guys can expect not only more consistent chapters come 2k19 but **better** chapters. The creative writing class I'm taking should give me some insights on that too.

I got involved with both the general fanfic community and the RWBY fandom pretty late, but reading and interacting and just _being_ a part of this crazy group of talented and caring people warms my heart and gives me a little strength every day.

Expect to see more of my writing in late December. Thank you for your time, be safe and stay awesome \m/

SSAQ

**Author's Note:**

> To be honest, this is probably the worst time for me to start something. I'm a week from going back to campus, and there are like four other ongoing fics in my to-do list. That said, I've been sitting on this chapter for a while so I just said fuck it set my love free~  
> Hope you guys like it, can't promise a timely update but you will see more! Cheers all!


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